I want to set myself up as a business, where do I start?

[liquidclocks]

Any advice from anyone who has done something sinilar would be great.

I make cards and other crafty bits and it's earned me a small income over the past few years selling to friends and family. I just got my first 'big' order though doing invitations an orders of services for a wedding.

So I've realised I need a business name and a separate bank/building society account. Does anyone know how I register myself or a good place to go to for help and advice? I've tried doing searches but I just can't seem to filter out the useful sites from the people who just want my money!

Hope someone out there can help... If MN can't then no-ne can!

Not sure about the bank account stuff but i know you will need to register as self employed with the Inland Revenue.

Here is a very simple guide from the Inland Revenue, with links to other useful documents.

You'll need to register as self-employed (call 08459 15 45 15 with your details including your National Insurance number and they'll register you and send you out a pack). You'll also need to pay £2.10 a week National Insurance contributions unless you qualify for and take out a Small Earnings Exemption (the Inland Revenue will explain that bit on the phone). You can get an appointment at your local tax office for someone to go through what you need to do in terms of tax and recordkeeping.

Do you intend to have a website? now or in the future? if so, I'd look at a domain name registration company and register your company name now, even if you choose not to use it yet. You don't need to be a limited company, this used to be tax beneficial but the rules were changed, so it probably wouldn't be worth the outlay for you.

Also, just to go in to your bank and ask for the forms for opening a small business account.

BTW you should also keep records of all orders/receipts/invoices/money transactions for your tax return

HTH

Hi, thanks for the pointers

That link is ver useful too portandlemonaid (mmm, interseting combo? )

Does anyone know of a reputable company to register a domain name with?

Sorry my typing skills have taken a real nose dive today

I use easily.co.uk don't know if they are the cheapest, but I've never had any problems with them. I've also used Easyspace in the past again no problems, they just didn't offer quite the package I wanted from a technical point of view.

(I'm normally lemonaid at less festive times of the year)

I've used Easyspace too.

I know the Inland Revenue suggest you have a separate business account, but remember that you don't HAVE to, and that you'll have to pay for banking as a business. I just use my personal account to pay cheques in, and have a separate credit card for work expenditure, and then log all my incomings and outgoings in Excel as I go.

Thanks, I'll, look into those two.

Thought I recognised the name Lemonaid - I'm being very unimaginative myself - if you can come up with a festive version for me too that'd be great!

If you want an easy sitebuilder that includes a (co.uk/.com) domain name, I've heard that Mr Site is really good.

You don't need a branded business account if you are a sole trader (ie. not a company) you pay through the nose for it, and it doesn't offer any advantages. What is a good idea is to open a separate personal bank account and use it for your business's incomings and outgoings makes it much easier to keep track of expenses which you will need when filling in a tax return.

You don't have to have an accountant, but a good one will probably pay for him/herself by advising you what costs you can and can't offset against your profits. There's plenty of grey area when you work from home -- I set off a proportion of eg. my utility bills against my income. An accountant will make sure you claim all you are entitled to without going so overboard that you attract the attention of the inland Revenue.

And yes, you do absolutely need to let the Revenue know that you're self-employed. There's a flat-rate form of National Insurance payments for self-employed people as well, which you should find out about. And worth seeing a financial adviser re. various types of insurance as well, tho' this may not apply to you if you're starting up after being a SAHM rather than leaving paid employment. And don't, don't forget to put aside enough to pay your tax bill. Just don't. Nuff said.

That's really good advice Frogs, and thanks for the site FredBasset, I'll take a look.

After spending another day doing research I'm beginning to feel like I know a lot more but getting a bit overwhelmed by the amount to sort out!

At the moment I'm on how I would set up taking card payments if I needed to...

...it goes on!

why not set up a paypal account to accept card payments, esp if you're going to have a website. it's much cheaper than having to have secure server etc, plus you don't have as many issues re data protection etc.